Mountain-hugging Fist, Intermediate Stage

Yang Yi was slightly delayed, but he reaped a bountiful harvest.

Zhuang Chenglu was an expert pill cultivator. If she was reluctant to part with these herbs, they must be very precious!

"They're fragrant, but they don't smell like medicine." Yang Yi sniffed the petals, but did not think much about it. He knew very well that his knowledge of pharmacology was shallow, so he might not understand how wonderful the petals were.

He never would have thought that Zhuang Chenglu, an inner disciple, would con him for 80 taels of silver.

Arriving at his assigned bamboo house, Yang Yi headed straight for the secret cultivation room.

The room was like a private hot spring. It was paved with cobblestones and there was a spring that was emitting hot steam.

The amount of spiritual spring water in the different bamboo houses were fixed. The springs would turn into ordinary hot springs after the spiritual spring water was completely absorbed and cultivated.

After that, one could choose to leave immediately, or continue soaking until the time was up.

Yang Yi finished washing his body in the washroom and dove excitedly into the spring.

The warm feeling instantly enveloped his entire body, making him feel refreshed! There was also a slight tingling sensation. It was as if pure energy was piercing his skin, as it was being absorbed and released by his body.

Yang Yi did not forget to sprinkle the petals of the nine-thorns flower into the spring water.

Then, he focused on circulating the Crimson Afterglow Technique.

It had to be said that with the support of the spiritual spring water, his cultivation progress was much faster.

Two hours passed.

Yang Yi had almost finished absorbing the spiritual spring water that was originally provided for four hours.

He glanced at his attribute panel and realized that his experience bar had increased by a little!

When he went up the mountain, Yang Yi heard from the disciple on duty that in the short term, the effect of the spiritual spring water would weaken over time. Hence, it was best to come over and cultivate every few days.

After experiencing the effect, Yang Yi was still not satisfied and wished that he could soak in the water all day long.

Not only could it speed up his cultivation, it could also heal his injuries and relax his muscles and bones. It was tempting.

"But is the nine-thorn flower really effective?"

Yang Yi felt as if he was bathing in rose petals. It was aesthetic, but he did not feel anything special.

He did feel that his body was more relaxed after soaking in the spiritual spring, but he did not know if it was because of the effects of the nine-thorns flowers.

"I'll make a comparison the next time I come here."

This time, the nine-thorns flowers were added in a hurry.

He would have to try soaking in the spiritual spring without adding the petals the next time he was here.

If it really worked, he was prepared to buy more from Zhuang Chenglu.

He had just started cultivating the Mountain-hugging Fist and already had internal injuries. In the future, he would definitely need similar medicine.

The day gradually progressed into night.

There was still about 15 minutes left until the stipulated four hours were up.

The Crimson Afterglow Technique and the Mountain-hugging Fist automatically gave a feedback.

For the Crimson Afterglow Technique, he gained one experience point, as usual.

As for the Mountain-hugging Fist, it seemed to be a little tired. It was resting and did not earn any experience points.

"It seems like giving feedback 30 times a day is indeed a little too much."

This made Yang Yi look like a capitalist who was exploiting his workers.

He let the Mountain-hugging Fist rest well and decided that he would try again tomorrow.

His gaze landed on the Crimson Afterglow Technique.

"Feedback, 10 times!"

[Your Crimson Afterglow Technique secretly ate the black-striped bear meat at the stall. Its strength increased. Strength +1.]

[Your Crimson Afterglow Technique has felt the trickle of spiritual energy from the spiritual spring. Its cultivation base improved. Experience +10.]

Two special events, eight regular reports of painstaking cultivation, experience +1.

...

Yang Yi was speechless.

He would not know unless he made the comparison, but under the same cultivation conditions, he had only obtained one experience point, while the crimson afterglow technique gained 10 points.

That dealt a huge blow to him. He wondered if working hard was worth it at all.

Yang Yi felt deep malice from the attribute panel.

It was trying to corrupt his mind!

He sighed softly. Then, he looked at the first item on the list.

Yang Yi had a growing feeling that something was wrong with the Crimson Afterglow Technique.

"Perceptive" was clearly a positive quality, but why was it frequently involved in underhanded activities?

Yang Yi expressed his condemnation toward this, but he accepted the results happily.

Although the increase in strength was not much, it was better than nothing, and Yang Yi did not mind.

He opened his attribute panel.

Host: Yang Yi

Realm: Blood Refining (160/500)

Spirit accumulation points: 1,000

Learned martial arts: Crimson Afterglow Technique, Mountain-hugging Fist

Pending martial arts: None

Number of scans: 1

Yang Yi was comfortable with how neat this turned out.

At this rate, he would be able to break through the Bone Refining stage in less than two months.

He was making quick progress. If he went all out, he could increase his speed further.

However, the utilization rate of the spirit accumulation points would decrease, and it would also bring about some unnecessary risks. The gains would not make up for the losses.

The most important thing right now was for him to prioritize the cultivation of the Mountain-hugging Fist.

...

...

"What I said just now were the main points of cultivating the Crimson Afterglow Technique. You'd better remember them."

A dignified-looking teacher was conducting the lesson in a deep voice.

The disciples standing in rows below seemed to have trouble understanding, but they responded in a clear voice.

After the class, Yang Yi left in a daze.

He happened to meet Lin Yan, so he called him to the training field to spar and carefully ponder over the lesson taught by the teacher today.

"Sorry, I promised my Senior Frother from the Harmony Court to test some pills for him."

Lin Yan's face was slightly pale and his eyes were sunken. No one knew what he had been through during this period of time.

"Okay."

Yang Yi did not insist.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

It was Jian Wenbin.

He said proudly, "Recently, I have quite a lot of experience in cultivating the Vast Heaven Fist. I believe that I'll reach the beginner stage in a few days. Are you up for a spar?"

"Uh, okay."

Yang Yi looked at his attribute panel with a troubled expression.

Martial art: Mountain-hugging Fist (learned)

Realm: Intermediate (12/300)

Characteristics: Competitive

Quality: Body Tempering martial arts

Feedback: ...

It had been more than 10 days since their last sparring session.

Yang Yi had cultivated the Mountain-hugging Fist to the intermediate stage.

There was no bottleneck. It went smoothly.

If he fought against Jian Wenbin, who was not even at the beginner stage for the Vast Heaven Fist, it would not really mean much for him. It would probably only take one move before the outcome was decided.

Aside from Jian Wenbin, there were also a few close peers who were walking toward the training field.

Along the way, everyone discussed the key points of cultivation taught by the coach.

"Coach Shen doesn't know how to teach. I didn't understand a single thing he said," Jian Wenbin said regretfully. "It would be great if we were allowed to pick our coaches."

"That's right. The path of cultivation still depends on one's own self to constantly explore. After all, lessons are nothing but external forces."

"That's right. When we were general disciples, we had loads of daily chores, and only one lesson a month. Yet, we still managed to break through to the Blood Refining stage."

Many others chimed in.

Even Yang Yi started to doubt the importance of the lessons.

After a moment, someone suddenly sighed.

"Those were some long years."

"..."

Everyone looked at each other and fell silent.

The topic of schoolwork was no longer discussed.

Everyone started to talk about the missions they took on during this period of time.

After all, not everyone was as rich as Yang Yi.

There were a lot of people who were busying themselves to earn 100 contribution points every month.

"Sigh, in order to earn this month's contribution points, I spent more than half of my time on missions. I've been on duty at various parts of the sect, sorted out materials, and even hunted a demonic beast. Although it's only a Skin Refining beast that sneaked into a farmer's house to eat his crops, it's still extremely dangerous."

Jian Wenbin was quite proud when he talked about hunting demonic beasts.

Not many disciples who were new to the Blood Refining stage would have the courage to take on such missions.

Although, Jian Wenbin merely tagged along a Bone Refining Senior Brother for the mission, and all he did was contribute one single stab at the beast after it was taken down.